 JeffreyConnoisseur of leisurely thingsPremium
join:2002-12-24
Long Island
kudos:3
 ·Verizon FiOS
 ·Vonage
| Portable Power Inverter My wife has to go to an all-day conference this coming week. This makes life a little difficult for her breast-pumping schedule for our 7 month old.
She has a pump that is a regular 2-prong device that plugs into any home outlet. I need to buy something for her vehicle (2007 Acura MDX) that will power her pump for the day she has the meetings. The time used on the pump is about 10 mins per instance, if it matters.
Will this work? My biggest fear is damaging the car, but it sounds like it may not be possible to do that with this:
»www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-PV150-···1&sr=8-2
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He used to say that soul shine, is better than sunshine, better than moonshine, damn sure better than rain.
Debunking the 2012 hysteria. | Always looking for a new job | Begging the Wilpons to sell the Mets. |
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JoelC707Premium
join:2002-07-09
West Point, GA
kudos:5 | How much load does the pump pull? The cigarette lighter socket on most vehicles is usually fed by a 20A fuse (check to make sure). 20A of 12V DC would be about 2A of 120V AC (less efficiency losses) or about 240W. That inverter is 150W max, so except for a short or something, it shouldn't damage the car at all as it wouldn't be capable of pulling what the circuit can provide. And if there is a short, I see a 20A fuse by the DC inlet so it would likely blow that one first. |
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JeffreyConnoisseur of leisurely thingsPremium
join:2002-12-24
Long Island
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
·Vonage
| said by JoelC707:How much load does the pump pull?
Would I find that information in the manual (which I have to find) or on the large label on the side of the power brick of the pump itself, that lists a bunch of stuff (in a few languages)? |
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JoelC707Premium
join:2002-07-09
West Point, GA
kudos:5 | Try the power brick, you're looking for an amp or watt rating. Might be in MA or milliamps too. |
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JeffreyConnoisseur of leisurely thingsPremium
join:2002-12-24
Long Island
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
·Vonage
| said by JoelC707:Try the power brick, you're looking for an amp or watt rating. Might be in MA or milliamps too.
Am I correct to say I see 5 amps? |
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Reviews:
 ·Suddenlink
| You want the input, or 120 volt current. It says it uses 1.5 amps. That gets converted to 12 volts at 5 amps. Looks like you could just as easily wire up a cigarette lighter plug to feed the pump, instead of converting 12 volts to 120 volts and then back to 12 volts. |
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JoelC707Premium
join:2002-07-09
West Point, GA
kudos:5 | reply to Jeffrey
Yeah do like Harry suggested and bypass the inverter altogether (unless there is something else you want to power). The device runs on the same 12V DC the inverter would run on so it'd be more efficient that way and should be cheaper than the inverter. Match the plug at Radio Shack, Frys or somewhere and make sure it is configured for positive tip (that's what the + and - diagram shows). |
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JeffreyConnoisseur of leisurely thingsPremium
join:2002-12-24
Long Island
kudos:3 Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
·Vonage
| said by JoelC707:Yeah do like Harry suggested and bypass the inverter altogether (unless there is something else you want to power). The device runs on the same 12V DC the inverter would run on so it'd be more efficient that way and should be cheaper than the inverter. Match the plug at Radio Shack, Frys or somewhere and make sure it is configured for positive tip (that's what the + and - diagram shows).
OK, I got it. Thanks for the help. Off to the store I go!
--
He used to say that soul shine, is better than sunshine, better than moonshine, damn sure better than rain.
Debunking the 2012 hysteria. | Always looking for a new job | Begging the Wilpons to sell the Mets. |
|
bemis
join:2008-07-18
Reading, MA Reviews:
·Comcast
·Verizon FiOS
| For future reference--
1.5A x 120V = ~180W
So you'd want an inverter capable of giving you at least ~200W or so, ideally maybe a bit more since the item you're running is an electric motor, tho I'm not sure that matters where there is an AC-DC conversion, and this is probably a very small motor...
Another thing... the fact that the device uses 12V DC means you probably could just find a correctly sized adapter and plug it directly into the lighter w/o bothering with the inverter or the power brick at all. The car's lighter will output 11.5~14.5V depending on whether the car is running, etc... I wouldn't be surprised if the pump manufacturer even sold this already. |
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